Join PM Modi's 'yatra': BJP leader rejects Rahul Gandhi's offer to join Bharat Jodo Yatra

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making real efforts to connect India through the construction of roads and other developmental efforts," Dinesh Sharma.

New Delhi, Dec 27: Former Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma has turned down the offer to join Bharat Jodo Yatra made by Rahul Gandhi and in return, he has asked the Congress former president has been asked to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to connect the country.

Dinesh Sharma took a swipe at the yatra which will enter Uttar Pradesh on January 3. He targeted the Congress for taking "Bharat todo" (breaking the country) yatra. He was invited to the Yatra in his capacity as a professor at Lucknow University.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making real efforts to connect India through construction of roads and other developmental efforts," PTI quoted him as saying as he listed other measures taken by the central government, which he said were aimed at "connecting the nation."

Two such instances he cited were the Modi government's abrogation of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the construction of roads in the northeast. Congress is filled with "negativity" and this was clearly reflected in its opposition to annulling of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and its joining hands with the Indian Muslim League in Kerala, he said, according to PTI.

Sharma said he doesn't have any information about the invitation for the UP leg of the Congress yatra, which he came to know through media reports. Sharma had served as deputy CM in the first Yogi Adityanath government.

Congress has invited several leaders of non-BJP parties, including Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati, and RLD's Jayant Chaudhary to take part in the Uttar Pradesh leg of the nationwide yatra which began from Kanyakumari.

However, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is unlikely to take part in the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra in Uttar Pradesh, an SP leader said on Tuesday, while other non-BJP leaders who have also been invited are yet to take a call.

"The schedule of SP president Akhilesh Yadav related to party programmes has already been decided and he is unlikely to attend the yatra," SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI.